Portuguese Dentists Protest Against New Dental School
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- Published: Monday, 23 October 2023 10:03
- Written by Peter Ingle
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It is easy to assume that with the unique system that is the NHS, a chaotic government, and years of relying on imported professionals to make up its workforce, that UK dentistry would be particularly troubled.
Now, to add to assorted international reports of access crises, a previously tranquil national group of dentists are protesting. Expatriates reading The Portugal Resident, an English-language weekly newspaper published there, will see that for the first time ever, there will be a demonstration of unhappy Portuguese dentists outside their parliament.
The professional body, the Syndicate of Medical Dentists (SMD) has announced that “it is time to act and fight.” With complaints that will resonate with their UK colleagues they say that they have been “forgotten by the government” and are “going through the greatest labour crisis” in the history of the profession.
One of their main demands will surprise UK colleagues, as they will be demonstrating to prevent the opening of another dental training course. The reason that this is an issue may leave recruiters in the UK pinching themselves. Portugal currently has a dentist to population ratio of about 1:800 and it is expected to be 1:650 by 2025. In comparison the World Health Organisation recommendation is 1:1,800.
The result is a ‘glut’ of dentists with many unable to find work, and to pile on the agony, the profession as such, does not exist within the State health service.
According to SMD president João Neto: “If a Portuguese person needs a dental emergency during the night or at the weekend, if they can’t afford it (and go to their local A&E department), there is no dentist either in the hospital or in the health centre.” Making matters worse, Neto says that, “Dentists are always seen as a privileged class, and they are not. There are colleagues turning to the Food Bank; there are homeless colleagues – there are situations of very serious precariousness.” In fact, he painted a miserable picture of a profession that has seen its practitioner numbers double in 10 years, due to university courses that are not geared to the reality of the market. As a result some dentists are working 50 hours a week, but earning only €300.
Another demand which will be repeated at the protest is that the regulator deals with what Neto described as the, “proliferation of misleading advertising over social media.” He claims that these mislead Portuguese citizens into having dental work which can then go badly wrong. He spoke of reports from colleagues of many patients who have gone to these organisations and returned “with irreversible, very serious treatment situations”. Young dentists, in particular who are desperate for work can end up working on green receipts (which nominally confirm self-employed status) while working for temporary labour companies, and are ‘hired’ by companies offering health plans that do not end up delivering what they offer.
One result of the situation is that around 600 Portuguese dentists are emigrating every year because they cannot find a job – many having just left university. It may say something about the combined delights of working in the NHS and negotiating the GDC’s overseas registration requirements, that more are not coming to the UK.
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